But it's only part of a development path. It's a huge balloon but has no crew capsule, and as far as I know, it hasn't flown outside of it's hanger.

I'm keeping a keen eye on this program though, as I'd be much more inclined to pay $100k for a day long leisurely flight to near space than for the twenty minute rollercoaster ride offered by Virgin Galactic.

A question JPowell - you have the conceptional drawings of the evolution of the Dark Sky station - do you have a similiar smaller to larger crafts planned for your large orbital airship? Or are the physics such that you are limited as to what you can actually test and build? Or is the ascender similiar enough such that it can act as your testbed for the large orbital airship

That picture of the Ascender doesn't do justice to how big this thing is. The small dots directly under the vehicle are people
standing under it.

"I also assume there's a development path in parallel with the ascender?"

There are two. One for the orbital Ascender and one for the atmospheric 0-140,000 feet) Ascender.

"It must be painful for you to have these plans in place, but progressing so slowly, it certainly is for us"

Not painful at all. As long as it's moving forward. We knew this was long tern project going into. It sometimes
feels like we're go at breakneck speed. Fourteen hours day,
six days a weeks, some times as many as six flights and twenty major tests a year. When a big missions is less than a year away I start to get nervous about the timeline.

"jpoweel, am I right? By the way - could you rgearding the ATO imagine to send a small ATO-version to a small Near Earth Object to do a sample return mission or even to catch the whole object?"

Small is tough. The minimum ATO vehicle is huge.

A lot of knowledgable folks say that even a small pocket high altitude airship is impossible, can't be done, the physics can't be made to work, no way, no how.... hmmmmmmm, I just love when they say that.

"Big stuff is the name of the game. However, once you have the really big DSS, making a really big ATO should be easier."

The Block 2 DSS is needed for major ATO construction.

"A question JPowell - you have the conceptional drawings of the evolution of the Dark Sky station - do you have a similiar
smaller to larger crafts planned for your large orbital airship? "

Yes, There are about 25 vehicles in the development plan yet to go. We've built about 35 vehicles so far. The only thing to do is keep building, keep flying, every now and then look out the window. When the sky is black you're done.

It seems to mean that the DSS will be lifted withe that capsule and so would have to be made return to the surface later if the crew capsule is manned. In that case the DSS would have been used as a vehicle like the Ascender.

Has it to do with an unmanned test of the crew capsule? Waht about the large Ascenders to be seen at your homepage? They seem to be capable of going up to altidtudes at which the DSS is meant to be operating. For what reason can't those Ascenders be used for tests etc.?

I've got a thought: would a DarkSkyStation be a good place for industrial techniques that require lots of low-quality vacuum? For instance, electron beam welding or vapor deposition? There would be two advantages: first, no need for a vacuum pump for soft-vacuum applications. Second, for hard-vacuum, the pumps wouldn't need to work as hard nor as fast (since leakage in would be low) and also the chamber could be much larger b/c of the lower forces against it from the oustide.

I suspect that it would be probably too much trouble for commercial use though, to have to lift the equipment and materials up and bring the products down.

Or perhaps it would be a good research station to test ion engines in near-vacuum conditions; I hear it's pretty hard to test them accurately down here.

I love the idea of pongsats. Anytime you can get children as young as third-graders interested in space is great.

This may be a great opportunity to tap into some Air Force "Space Professional Cadre" personnel. I'm quoting from a recently released requirements document:

Quote:

SPACE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM (SPDP) CONTINUINGEDUCATION GUIDELINES1. SPDP Continuing Education (CE) is a commandersâ€™ program. Commandersand unit supervisors are responsible for completion of the CE requirement byeach assigned Credentialed Space Professional (CSP). Commander discretionis a key element in determining satisfactory accomplishment.2. Each CSP is required to complete 40 hours of CE annually. Four hours willbe dedicated to outreach.3. Outreach is participation in space-related learning programs involvingstudents from kindergarten to high school seniors (K-12). Outreach programsnormally occur in formal school settings, but can also be focused on other youthgroups (e.g., scouts, clubs, etc.). Group CSP participation is appropriate. Weencourage units to continue existing relationships with local organizations thatmeet this requirement. Another ideal means of completing the outreachrequirement is through the High Frontier Adventures program, made possible bya cooperative agreement between AFSPC and the Space Foundation.Information is available via the High Frontier Adventures website:.

And good luck with ATO. That is thinking way outside the box. I hope you can pull it off and stick it to the big boys.

We've just posted a new video on the JPA website.
It's just a short propeller test for the high altitude airship, but it's fun.
The prop vibrates a bit. I havn't balanced them yet.
It's the "Fifth" test.